LYONS ? The upstairs windows are barred, and the driveway leading to the basement was once used for unloading prisoners.

Beyond those historic details, the Spanish tile roof, sturdy brick construction and the price booked Ray and Patti Brady into converting the old Rice County Jail to their new retirement home.

“Can you imagine getting all of this for $21,000?” Ray Brady exclaimed, standing on the front lawn of his jailhouse on the corner of U.S. Highway 56 and Kansas 14 in Lyons.

The Bradys, of suburban Houston, avid junior college basketball fans and 20-year regulars to the National Junior College Basketball tournament in Hutchinson, bought the jail planning to call it their March Juco home.

After a closer look at the possibilities the 6,300-square-foot brick structure holds, Patti Brady, 55, was ready to leave Texas.

The couple bought the building in November 2003, and they started the renovation in April 2004 with a crew of two helpers.

They tore out the old acoustical tiles and ripped down paneling that covered the foot-wide concrete and brick ceilings and walls. After that, they pulled away carpet and discovered the original oak floors, now refinished. He hired a local plumber and electrician to get the bathrooms and kitchen running.

When the jail was built in the 1930s, the sheriff’s family occupied the first floor, and prisoners were housed in second-floor cells.

Their original plan was to convert the upper floor, with jail cells to accommodate 27, into a bed and breakfast.

Ray Brady shows the upper level of the old Rice County jail in Lyons. Ray and his wife, Patti, are converting the old jail house into their new retirement home. The couple bought the building in November 2003, and they started the renovation in April 2004 with a crew of two helpers. For now though, the upper level will remain intact.

That’s on hold for now.

Ray, an avid basketball fan, has plans for making the rounds of junior college and four-year university games.

Since he retired at age 57, Brady, now 72, wonders how he had time to work.

The story of how they bought the jail dates to March 2003.

The Bradys were at the junior college tournament when they read a newspaper story about the jail being auctioned. Brady decided they would drive to Lyons to see it.

Ray Brady shows the former Cell No. 1 of the old Rice County jail that has been renovated into a bathroom.

“Patti said, ‘What for?’ and he answered, ‘I’m going to come back in April and bid on it.'”

He bid by telephone — but the jail, in a package deal with the next-door police station, went too high. Months later, Brady talked to the top bidder, who had decided he was ready to sell.

They shook hands, and the deal was locked up.